President Maurer's last week

So, sorry I didn't get to email before you all went to bed. We had a Zone P-day today which was so much fun. We started off by doing some service which was just cleaning up someone's yard. With all of us working on that, it didn't take any more than like 15 minutes (it was a pretty small yard with about 14 of us working.) After that though we went to a park and had a sausage sizzle and a sports triathlon. We split the zone into fairly even teams and played basketball, ultimate frisbee, and touch rugby. My team won frisbee easily and rugby we won but that was a fluke. I STILL don't know how to play that game properly. Basketball was fun too, missionary sports are always so competitive. I love it. So that's why I'm emailing now, which is the middle of the night for yall, but I've had an amazing p-day so it's ok.

On Thursday we had our last zone stewardships meeting with President and Sister Maurer. I can't believe they're leaving next week. holy cow. My very last interview with President Maurer was definitely the most spiritual one. I can't wait to see what the rest of my mission has in store for me after some of the things we talked about. He gave us the talk that he probably gives missionaries when they're going home, but now that he's going home, he gave us all that talk. Those who have served missions probably know which talk I'm referring to. He talked to us about what to do when we go home, gave us advice on finding a wife, going to school, doing the right things, you know. It was a pretty good talk. Although, I couldn't really think about some of the stuff he was talking about since I still have a year and a half left, but nonetheless, it did make me a bit more comfortable about my post-mission life.

We finally got our new Ensigns today. Haven't started reading it yet but totally looking forward to it. I already know that Elder Bednar's article in it is amazing since that's one that mom sent me awhile ago. Thanks mom. I'm excited to read it again though. Elder Bednar is such an inspiring speaker. And I love getting inspired.

The Sabbath yesterday was quite good. After church, Elder Hunt and I asked our ward mission leader, Brother Ghergori, if he'd like to come out teaching with us and he was more than excited. Brother G is the man. From what I've heard he's one of the best Ward Mission leaders in the mission. He used to be in the Stake Presidency. He's just such a loving guy though. It's amazing. We took him out and visited 5 less active families and shared a good spiritual thought and invited them to church next week. You can definitely tell that Brother Ghergori does his job as a Ward mission leader just like he probably did his job in the stake presidency as well as a bishop before that. Every house we went to, the family already knew him and was more excited to talk to him than they were to us. It was so cool though to be able to bring him with us. Partly because he has a car and we don't lol. So we were able to see 5 families in about 2 hours, whereas seeing those 5 families on our bikes would've been an all day affair. But yeah, Brother G is the best. More ward mission leaders should be like him. Well, to tell the truth, more members in general should be like him. He's one of the most Christlike guys I've seen in WA. Well in my little part of WA anyway. Transfers are coming up next week, and even though I've only been in this area for one transfer, I really want to see the rest of WA. If I do get transferred, hopefully it's not just down the street again lol. But nah, I probably won't get transferred, but we'll see, crazier things have happened.

It's been a great week for receiving letters. Keep them coming. The only thing that makes me happier than doing missionary work is getting letters from family and friends. I'm so grateful for yalls support. A mission would be very hard without it. Hard, not impossible. It's amazing how much you learn to rely on the lord on a mission. Just like John 15:4 says, we can't bear fruit without the help of the Lord. That's something I've come to live by. John 15 is an amazing chapter, and the parable in verses 1-10 is one of the best. Never forget that. The Lord is always with you, if you allow Him to be.

I love yous. Talk to you next week, don't know if it will be in the middle of the night again though or not because it's President's last Transfer meeting and it's supposed to be a pretty good one. Everyone is invited, so it should be fun. Like our final goodbye.

Love you lots,
Elder Tanner

Hospital Week

This week was pretty uneventful, mostly due to one of our Zone Leaders, Elder Anderson, being in the hospital for 3 days. It's actually a pretty funny story. But because he was in the hospital for so long, his companion needed a companion so my district leader's companion went with him and me and Elder Hunt and Elder Beck were in a 3-way from Tuesday Morning until Thursday evening. During that time we spent a lot of time going back and forth to and from the hospital to take Elder Anderson clothes, food, etc. So we didn't get a whole lot of work done since the first day we had to work was Friday. We would have on Thursday but it was Zone Conference. I guess I should tell you why he was in the hospital. He was playing with a cutthroat razor and opened it the wrong way and it swung around and sliced his knuckle. It wouldn't have been that bad if he hadn't sliced his tendon clear in half. It was just ridiculous that he had to be in the hospital for 3 days for a little cut. That just goes to show you how great socialised health care is.... not.

Zone Conference was probably one of the best ones I've been to. We had a lot of discussion about or scripture heroes. I thought the one I came up with was pretty good. I said my scripture hero was my parents. Even though you can't find them in the scriptures, I find them in the scriptures all the time. Plus Enos and Alma the Younger both talk about how the words of their fathers began to be deeply imprinted in their hearts and that's exactly how I've felt. I've remember the words my parents have taught me so many times on my mission. And I'm so blessed to have been brought up in the gospel. I'm so thankful for the example my parents have set for me and the lessons they have taught me in my youth. I wish I would have paid better attention sometimes, but I couldn't be more thankful for that.

President and Sister Maurer leave in two weeks so Zone Conference was really emotional. I love President Maurer more than I can describe. He's helped me become the missionary I wanted to be and helped me with some personal struggles in my life. It's going to be sad to see him go, but I know that President and Sister Cahoon are going to be just as inspired and as amazing as the Maurer's, if not more amazing. I'm really looking forward to meeting them. Plus they're from Canada, so they got that going for them. Canadians are the best.

So pretty much without leaders, I'd be nowhere. One of the most important things I've learned, always listen to the words of your leaders. Whether it's your ward leaders, stake leaders, or family leaders. They know what's going on better than you do and they can really help you if you only let them.

I love you all, and I hope you all have a great week.

Elder Tanner

Temple Week :D

This week has been quite a busy one. It's been so good. Last Tuesday President Maurer came over during study time to share some insights with us which was really good. He's going around the mission trying to encourage people that have things that might distract themselves from the work to send those things home. Apparently there's been a problem in the mission with missionaries that have hard drives with screens on them and watching movies on them. I don't know what the point is of watching movies on your mission, they'll still be there in two years. Plus we're promised blessings if we're obedient so why break such an easy rule to keep. Anyways, also while president was over he told Elder Hunt and I that we had to move out of our house tomorrow to give a new senior couple somewhere to live for the next two weeks until one of the other senior couples goes home. They would have somewhere for them to live but that place got destroyed in a storm awhile back and they still haven't gotten it all fixed up. President told us to cancel any plans we had made for that day and spend the day cleaning as if our mom was moving in with us. So for the next two weeks we're living with the Zone Leaders which has been fun so far. Other than the fact that we don't have a car and from the Zone Leaders flat to anywhere in our area is at least a 30 minute bike ride. Yesterday while we were biking to an area to visit some families Elder Hunt got a flat tire and we were a 30 minute bike ride from home and probably about a 15 minute bike ride from the area we had planned to go, so our district leader came and rescued us. It's been good fun though.

Temple day today. This is President Maurer's last transfer so hopefully we get to keep going next transfer. Once every 6 weeks just isn't often enough to go to the temple. It's almost as good as once a month, but not quite. I can't wait til I can go whenever I want. I wish I would've gone more before I came out. Today we're going with two zones. Usually we just go with one but since the temple has been closed for a couple of weeks for remodeling and president is leaving after this transfer, he wants to have a special meeting after the temple and he and sister Maurer want to go through the temple with all of us before they go home, so going with two zones just makes it easier. We're going with my old zone too so I'll be able to see all of the people I served around last transfer. And Elder Glover came down from Port Hedland this transfer and he's serving in that zone again too now so I'm pretty excited to see him.

Thursday was an exciting day (not). We were on our bikes and it was pouring down rain. I didn't have my rain jacket with me until about 2 or 3. So we biked in the rain and cold and got soaked and I was wearing my suit pants which just made it that much more uncomfortable. But now I have a nice rain jacket that Elder Hunt gave me. He had like 3 that he had collected from other missionaries and Op Shops and things like that, but it's a really nice one. Winter officially started this week so I'm definitely going to have to start using it. Biking home last night at 9:15 was so cold. Elder Hunt let me borrow his sweater because I wasn't smart enough to bring anything warm with me since it was pretty warm when we left the flat. Lesson learned though. I'm just not looking forward to the rainy season if I'm going to be biking everyday. Hopefully my immune system is ready. I'm sure it is though. After Thursday and last night, I'm still doing pretty good, haven't gotten sick yet. We'll just have to see if I can keep that up.

Well I gotta go get some lunch and stuff before the temple. If you haven't been to the temple in the last 4 weeks, do it. That goes for all of you that can. I know that place blesses your lives, but only if you make it a part of your lives. So DO IT!

I love you all, and pray for you daily. Have a great week!

Elder Tanner